Introducing the Birdie Carer of the Week: Stacey McLeod

April 17, 2020

Ravi Vyas

Each and every day there are an army of dedicated care staff going the extra mile to make someone’s life better. Never before has their hard work, tenacity and positive attitude been more important. We asked our partner agencies to nominate their very own frontline care heroes, those going the extra mile every day to deliver the best care. We’re excited to introduce you to our next Carer of the Week, Stacey McLeod from Forget Me Not Home Care. Read on to discover her story...

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Stacey has gone above and beyond in not only her role as a carer and coordinator but in implementing Birdie before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. She has personally taken time to go to certain techphobic carers' houses to train them on Birdie and ensure they understand it well but is also juggling this with doing care calls and looking after her elderly relatives. Her positivity and enthusiasm has led all the carers, from the young and tech savvy ones to the old techphobic ones to really utilise Birdie and love it!‍Karen Williams, Care Manager, Forget Me Not Home Care

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“Stacey, how are you coping with COVID-19?”

"Thankfully, everything is going okay so far. It’s been manic implementing a new system, but the carers have been amazing at carrying on and making sure they continue to provide great care."

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“What's the biggest challenge you've faced?”

"The biggest challenge at work is PPE, as is the case everywhere. Thankfully, it hasn’t hit us that hard. But also, being away from my husband and baby girl (Sienna) for long periods of time can be a challenge. My husband is at home now and it seems like Sienna is becoming a daddy’s girl because of it!."

“How do you keep positive?”

“I know the carers are always going to provide the best care and I trust them. This keeps me positive. But also my family and friends help and coming home to my family always makes my day.”

“Do you have a support system?”

"My family and friends 100% are my support system. I always try and have tea with my family every day. Even though our weekly Sunday roast at my parents’ isn’t possible during this time, we carry on the tradition by making Sunday roast and video calling my parents so we still have a family feel. We’ve also done online family quiz nights together and I love talking to my friends on Friday evening and doing fun online activities. Without all these people, I wouldn’t be able to carry on."

“Does Birdie help make it easier?”

"Birdie definitely helps me on the admin side as I’m able to see exactly when something has gone wrong or if a carer needs my help. Especially during these times where there is a high infection risk, the COVID-19 Symptoms Checklist allows me to see if a carer has reported a client having symptoms, I can check their run to see who they will see next and hopefully track and mitigate the spread of the virus to clients. It also means carers don’t have to take all the paperwork to the office once every two months to be read. We see things in real time and can flag, audit, or praise all notes and medication outcomes that come through."

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A message to all carers from Stacey...

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"Keep safe out there, we've all got this! Keep the morale strong, we can get through it. We will get through it, just hang on in there. Do anything you can to keep your spirits up."

We’d like to say a huge well done to Stacey, and thank you for doing the work you do. We’ll be posting a Carer of the Week each and every week so make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram to see the winners.